DeMarre Carroll: Some Raptors 'didn't trust each other'
DeMarre Carroll is being quite candid on his way out of Toronto. After being traded to the Brooklyn Nets in order to clear salary cap space Saturday, the veteran has spoken freely about his fit - or lack thereof - with the team he spent the last two seasons playing for.
"I wasn't happy," Carroll told the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat. "My agent, we thought the style of ball was going to be different, it was going to be more team-oriented, but I guess it was still ISO, so I thought they would have moved me last year, but that didn’t happen."
Carroll joined the Raptors as a free agent in July 2015, coming from a pass-happy Atlanta Hawks squad that won a franchise record 60 games the previous season. Being dropped into an oft-plodding Raptors offense mostly predicated on isolations from Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan wasn't easy, he said.
"If you've been playing ISO ball so long, and that's all you know, it's going to be kind of hard," Carroll said. "I think you have to bring certain guys in, certain coaches in, to really build that type of culture and I feel like Toronto is an ISO team."
The Raptors ranked 29th and 30th in total assists in the two seasons Carroll played for them. He also suggested that trust issues among teammates helped limit Toronto's accomplishments this past season.
"This year, I feel like a lot of guys didn't trust each other and a lot of guys, they didn't feel like other guys could produce," Carroll said. "So there was a lot of lack of trust on our team, so that's what hindered us from going (on)."
Rumblings of discontent have emanated at various times from the Raptors' locker room over the past few seasons, but none have ever resulted in a full-blown crisis. Reports this spring floated the idea that Lowry wanted out of Toronto, but in a limited marketplace, he re-upped with the franchise on a three-year deal for $100 million.
Carroll simply never lived up to the four-year, $60-million contract he signed with the Raptors, although injuries played a significant role in that, as he was limited to just 26 games in 2015-16. Brought aboard as a 3-and-D player, Carroll shot below his career average from beyond the arc in 98 games in a Toronto uniform.
In addition to dumping Carroll's salary, the Raptors are reportedly trading backup point guard Cory Joseph to the Indiana Pacers for C.J. Miles, a skilled shooter who's main purpose will be to replace Carroll's minutes.